Monday, October 17, 2016

Shemekia Copeland Performs At The Tin Pan

How often do
you get to sit in the presence of somebody who is that damn good? Shemekia
Copeland flew into The Tin Pan in Richmond’s west end with her four-piece band and
proceeded to wow the enthusiastic crowd with her signature blend of blues and
soul. Despite her diminutive stature, Copeland has a commanding presence and
all eyes were riveted on her during her high energy two-hour set.

Opening the
show with the title track from her recent Alligator release, Outskirts
Of Love, it was immediately evident that Copeland was in great voice
and her songs were going to be powerful throughout the night. This was borne
out with the next couple of songs, also from Outskirts, Crossbone Beach, which featured some
very nice slide work from Ken “Willie” Scandlyn, and The Battle Is Over.

The first of
several goosebumps inducing songs, Married
To The Blues followed, a smoking, blistering number that made more than one
person come to their feet in appreciation. It was at this point that Copeland
began talking about her pregnancy (seven months and counting – she joked that
the band has threatened to start wearing scrubs to shows as they expected a
delivery soon and wanted to be prepared).

She then
launched into Somebody Else’s Jesus,
a standout song from her 2012 Telarc release 33 1/3. After which she
proved that she is a “full service blues singer” by delivering a great version
of her father Johnny Copeland’s Devil’s
Hand.

With both Jesus
and the Devil satisfied, Copeland then unleashed Dirty Water with some great
double slide work from Scandlyn and Arthur Neilsen. Neilsen has been working
with Copeland for approximately 18 years and he and Scandlyn are a formidable
pair trading lead and rhythm throughout the night. They were joined by a rhythm
section comprised of Kevin Jenkins on bass and Robin Gould III on drums.

Copeland and
her band got many people out of their chairs and on the dance floor with her
tribute to Koko Taylor which included extended guitar breaks with Scandlyn and
Neilsen trading licks to increasing applause from the audience. She then slowed
the tempo down with the spiritual Lord
Help The Poor and Needy.

She then wound
up the audience with the gospel flavored Big
Brand New Religion which led to another standing ovation for her. Winding
up with an amazing rendition of Ghetto Child
in which she stepped away from the mic and walked the entire audience reaching
out to every single person in the room and singing without any amplification
other than her amazing voice. She would often punctuate the lyrics with
comments to different individuals, especially when she zeroed in on one
audience members’ cheesecake.

This lead to a
prolonged standing ovation as they ended the night and listened to the cheers
before coming back for a rocking version of It’s
2 A.M. (Do You Know Where Your Baby Is?). By this point, the audience was
totally in love with Copeland and would have gladly stayed longer just to be
with her. Once again the Tin Pan has brought in a major talent to the Richmond
area and with their close up and intimate seating, those lucky enough to catch
their shows know what a special evening it can be.

Be sure to check out the photo from Jeff
Scott Shots that accompanies this review. Scott is an amazing photographer with
some great action shots. I have admired his work for some time and am delighted
that he agreed to let us publish one of his photos here. Hopefully we’ll be
able to feature his work more prominently – and if you like his work, reach out
to him. He’s great! Discover for yourself at